Late Night Promises
by dragonflybeach
Summary: coda to s10e08 - Dean knows that if he goes dark again, and Cas has to take him out, someone will have to pick up the pieces of Sam.
Jody answered the door in a Snoopy t-shirt and sweatpants.

"Hey Dean," she said around a yawn, looking over his shoulder. "You alone?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Where's your new sidekick?"

She smiled as she opened the door wider to let him in. "She invited me to her room to quote 'get blingoed on her minibar and watch some pay-per-view.' Two drinks later, I poured her into bed and came back to my room."

He offered a smile that didn't reach his eyes and nodded.

She waved him toward the chair, retrieved two beers from the mini fridge, handed him one, and sat on the edge of the bed.

"But you didn't come here to talk about Donna." she said softly.

He looked across the room, at his hands, and at the wall behind her head. Jody waited patiently, sat still, treated him as she would a nervous witness.

"What you said about me going off the reservation?" He finally said, briefly glancing at her face before looking away again. "True. And it could happen again."

"What do we need to do?" she asked.

"I want you to promise me that if it happens again, you'll take Sam home." He answered, seeming to draw in on himself.

"What do you mean, take Sam home?" She pressed, leaning forward slightly.

"Take him back to Sioux Falls and make him babysit Alex, take him back to the bunker and babysit him, whatever. Just don't leave him alone, and don't let him go after Cas." Dean told her.

"No." she said firmly. "We're going to find you, fix you, fix ... this ..." she gestured broadly. "You know Sam won't give up. And I'll do whatever I can to help him. You know I was helping him when you were missing before, sending him info from police blotters ... "

He held up his hand to cut her off. "I appreciate what you did, and what you want to do, but if it happens again, there won't be anyone to find."

She leaned back slightly, her shoulders dropping as she looked at him. "Dean."

"I can't do it again, Jody." He looked off across the room. "I can't be that ... that, again. If it happens, Cas is going to take me out. He promised. And Sam won't be able to bring me back after that."

He sighed and shook his head. "He'll try. We all know he'll try. But he's not going to be able to. And he told me that if that day ever comes, that I'm gone and he can't get me back, he's gonna stick his gun in his mouth."

Jody clenched her jaw to keep from making a sound.

"Don't let him do that, Jody. He deserves better. He deserves to live a long and peaceful life. Make him get out of hunting and be normal. At least promise me you'll try. I won't hold it against you if he does it anyway. Sammy's pretty damned hardheaded." Dean looked at her briefly again, then back down at his untouched beer.

"Dean." She waited until he looked up before she continued. "Is there anything we can do?"

He shrugged, looking away again. "Sam's determined to find a cure. But nothing yet, no hunter we know had ever even heard any lore about this before, and the Men of Letters' organization system left a lot to be desired before Sam and I started cataloging everything."

"It's possible." She said.

He huffed out a humorless laugh, shaking his head. "At this point in our lives, after all the things we've seen, theoretically, anything is possible. But we have no idea when the Mark might flare up again, and no idea, if we find anything useful, how long it might take to reverse the Mark, or even if there is a way to do it."

"That doesn't mean we just give up." She argued.

"You sound like Sam." He said sadly. "I'm not giving up. If there's anyone who can pull a cure out of his ass, it would be Sam. But you of all people should know, you don't just walk into a life threatening situation without a backup plan."

She looked down at her own beer, counting three seconds on inhale, three seconds on exhale, a trick she learned in the academy.

"I'm sorry." He spoke so softly she had to concentrate to hear him. "I know I'm asking a lot. And I know it's not fair to you and Alex, especially if you can't stop him from ... yeah. But he's my brother and if he's angry at Cas, with Bobby and Kevin gone, you're gonna be all he's got left."

"Dean," she said, shaking her head.

"Jody, just promise me you'll try. That's all I ask." He pleaded.

"You know I'll do everything in my power to keep Sam safe." She assured him. "But I want you to promise me that you'll do everything in your power to make sure it doesn't come to that. You can't just give up, Dean. Bobby would have your head if he heard you talk like this."

He smiled sadly and nodded. "I know. And I promise. Thanks Jody."

He rose to his feet. She stood and hugged him.

"Go get some rest." she said. "We have a monster to catch."

"Good night." he said as he opened the door.

"You're welcome for the beer." she told him pointedly.


End file.
